through your real estate agent or through the seller’s agent. In some places, the sales contracts are drafted by lawyers. The purchase offer is not a binding sales contract. It is the buyer’s offer on the house based on its current condition and with the items the buyer expects to remain with the property. If the seller doesn’t agree with some of your terms, he’ll cross off items and initial his changes. Any change the seller makes to your offer voids it and it becomes a counteroffer which you can accept, refuse, or change, initialing each of your own changes in turn and creating another counteroffer to send back to the seller. Offers can go back and forth several times during negotiations. The offer does not become a contract until everyone agrees to all changes in writing. There are many important aspects to be included in the purchase offer. These include: the physical address and the legal description of the property; price and terms of purchase (whether it is an all cash transaction or a mortgage purchase); promise by the seller to give clear title to the buyer; target date of closing; earnest deposit associated with the offer and the mode of depositing the same (whether through cash or check); the disposition of the earnest deposit if the deal fails or if either party backs out of the deal; plans for adjusting taxes, rents, fuel and water bills between the buyer and the seller; information on who will pay for the title insurance, survey, inspections and other miscellaneous expenses; the kind of deed that will be granted; other legal requirements depending on the state; attorney review of the contract if needed; disclosure regarding any environmental hazards; and the time after which the offer will expire. An important aspect of a purchase offer are the contingencies. For instance, you might make your offer contingent upon a particular event. This means you will go ahead with the offer only
50
Powered by FlippingBook